I'm sure you've had this happen at some point in your life: you press the elevator call button and an elevator opens right away. It was already waiting there on your floor.
So why were the doors closed?
The way elevators seem to work is they take everyone to their desired floor then either stop where they are or return to lobby level depending on the building. Then they close their doors, and you have to press the call button to open them again.
That takes up some energy, doesn't it? It takes some energy to close the elevator doors, it takes some energy to work the call button, and it takes some energy to open the elevator doors again. Not much, but some.
In the building where I work, I often see people getting out of an elevator as I approach the elevator lobby, but I can't make it there before the doors close. So I go back and press the call button, and then the same elevator opens again. Not only did it waste energy by closing, calling, and re-opening, but I had to rush past the call button in my attempt to make the elevator, then go back to the call button to make the doors open again. This is practically effortless for me, but it would be rather difficult and frustrating for people who are elderly and/or have reduced mobility, for whom crossing the elevator lobby takes a non-negligible amount of time and who might not be spry enough to make it from the call button back to the elevator doors before the doors close.
Why not make it easier for everyone and save a small amount of energy by leaving the doors open?
2 comments:
I seem to recall that elevators DID operate this way at one time - an available car would wait doors open, at least at lobby level.
I wonder why it changed?
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